The Misogyny Against Happy, Bubblegum Pop
It’s 2009. You’re browsing on YouTube and stumble upon a music video with millions of views, yet you’ve never heard of it before. You click on it to try to understand the hype, and are met with the line, “Uh huh, listen boy, my first love story…”, along with nine young Asian women singing and dancing in brightly-colored skinny jeans. For some reason, you suddenly feel disgusted, and maybe even filled with rage? Flash forward to 2019 and Taylor Swift releases the music video for “ME!” where she dances in a set filled with pastels, rainbows, and unicorns. The same feelings as before rile up in you, as you open Twitter and tweet “@taylorswift13 What the fuck is this?”
Oh, the epitome of pop music…a happy-go-lucky catchy tune to dance to while forgetting all of life’s problems. A lot of female pop stars’ biggest songs fit that exact description. Their hits can be considered audio versions of happiness in a bottle. However, this seemingly unthreatening type of music somehow garners highly unnecessary comments of fury. Portraying unabashed happiness in a highly feminine manner can bring out the misogyny in men and the internalized misogyny of women with uncalled for commentary disguised as ‘constructive’ because they said so.
If you somehow happen to be oblivious to what kind of music I’m talking about, bubblegum pop holds true to its name in the sense that if the scene of a kid in a candy shop was a sound, it would be this. There is typically nothing too serious about these songs production wise or lyrically. The overall aesthetic and sound seemingly captures everything a young child would love — a (cheesy) inspiring message, bright production, high toned voices, a catchy hook easy to sing along to, and imaginative visuals complete with bold and/or pastel colors. Examples throughout the years include, “…Baby One More Time” (1998), “Gee” (2009), “Call Me Maybe” (2011), “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (2012), “I Really Like You” (2015), “CHEER UP” (2016), and “ME!” (2019). The most iconic example of bubblegum pop in its truest form is Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” era; specifically “California Gurls” hits all the notes of bubblegum pop. The iconic imagery and quirky fun lyrics proved the love that bubblegum pop can receive, as she broke big records such as “the first woman, and second artist overall following Michael Jackson, in the 53-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 to send five songs from an album to №1”, according to Billboard.
Despite the fair share of love for the sub-genre, the problem of some reviews is when blatant misogyny is masked as constructive criticism. It’s not uncommon to see (harsh, but not disrespectful) disses stating “In this mess of a teeth-rotting sugary bubblegum song…” and “A hollow shell covered in sparkles” turning into “How embarrassingly childish, especially coming from a grown woman” and “Isn’t she too old for this?” When a pattern of criticism meant for music turns into judging the artists’ character, that is when it is clear there is a deeper problem at hand. The topic of joyfulness expressed with ‘stereotypical’ feminine traits such as the color pink, high toned voices, and general bubbliness being met with such disgust and anger from others signals a problem they have within themselves that they project onto these female artists who are fully secure in their femininity.
Sexist male music reviewers will always find a way to discredit a woman with anything they do or put out, but releasing something considered “bubblegum” allows for the misogynistic takes to flow like a river. Men love scrutinizing what women think, do, and say no matter what they do, however, when women show “traditionally feminine” traits or behavior, it’s treated like a free pass for them to dog on said content for being “too girly” in the name of progressive feminism; Of course, along with the type of men who will dismiss women regardless who now don’t look like the odd ones out. If there’s an opportunity to look “woke” (without actually being fully informed), men will take it.
As long as sexism has existed, along with that is the idea that any form of femininity is a weakness. Even with the many waves of feminism reached at this point, along the way, feminism has been incorrectly twisted into an image of only encouraging those who don’t stick to traditionally feminine traits. In fact, if you abide by highly feminine traits, such as everything bubblegum pop displays, it’s seen as regressive and something that women eventually need to “grow out of”. The idea that there is only one kind of femininity a woman is allowed to have at a certain time was made just so that men don’t have to be uncomfortable. With toxic masculinity ingrained in their brains, they project their fears of “too much” femininity onto those who are comfortable with femininity, because what they know is being threatened.
While feminism is heavily portrayed as women going against stereotypes (by working in male dominated fields, visually presenting as more masculine, etc. [even then, women still can’t be ‘too’ masculine either]) in the media, actual feminism goes deeper. According to the “Merriam-Webster” dictionary, the definition of “feminism” includes “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests”. Not only is feminism about supporting those who break out of feminine characteristics, but also supporting the women who choose to behave traditionally feminine. It’s also important to keep in my mind that it’s not completely two different sides; women are multifaceted. Feminism is all about supporting all women and whatever choices they so please to do. Now that that’s made clear, putting down women who choose to put out “overly feminine” bubblegum pop is not the progressive take men think it is. The same goes for women who suffer from internalized misogyny, who whether consciously or not, share the same mindset.
Expressing traditional feminine traits is not and will never be something shameful. Any woman of any age is allowed to exist with whatever interests and traits they choose to express themselves with. The idea of femininity and how a woman sees and embraces it is different for everyone. A female singer who makes songs about finding happiness and/or true love with sweet chimes and a female singer who writes songs reflecting upon the struggles of mental illness, grief, or societal issues can carry both the same amount of femininity, talent, and worthiness (one woman can even do both, gasp). Their worthiness does not depend on how others’ perceive them, as that is those peoples’ problems and not theirs. If you want to be, some would say, a normal person with common sense, take my advice. If you don’t like the new bubbly song by the latest ‘it’ girl, say your opinion on the musicality if anyone cares, and leave it at that. If that’s too hard to do…then I would shut your mouth all together.
